Recycled Cans Crafts

March 08, 2017

If you are like me, you likely find yourself saving little plastic food containers of all kinds that you know you can upcycle sometime. Purim, when we give gifts of food to friends and neighbors is a perfect time to put that pack rat collection to good use, and with just some simple supplies you can create something festive and cute! Time is of the essence, as I've still got lots and lots to do before the holiday starts Saturday night, so lets get started!

January 19, 2016

Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish New Year for the trees is coming this Sunday night, so lets fill our homes with fruity decorations and crafts to honor this special day. For starters, how about this simple recycled can vase filled with bare branches? You can decorate it in so many ways, namely with little pink or white blossoms or some other reference to fruit like these apple slice ornaments that you can make with my printable fruit slice crafting pages.

The vase itself is made by covering cans with my printable fruit slice coloring pages, and the results are something that everyone will be proud of, as it is simply festive and cute! (And of course these coloring pages can be used in so many ways, this is just the first of several ideas I'm going to be sharing with you today and tomorrow.

December 07, 2009

Wondering how to package those holiday treats you'd like to give as gifts? Why not recycle cans (and even boxes or bottles) and transform them into containers that will be enjoyed long after the treats are gone? Your gift will be that much more appreciated, and everyone can surely use an extra container or two around holiday time.

All you need is some recycled cans from the kitchen, preferably with non-ribbed sides, and some shiny contact paper in a few colors. The cans I've used here are from instant oatmeal, and I've included the plastic top (seen at the base of each can) so that the containers can be used in a number of ways.

You'll Need:

a can, a box or any strong container, even a clean milk carton or plastic bottle (with the top portion removed) could work nicely

shiny contact paper in a few colors

cellophane or tissue paper

ribbon

How To:

Choose a base color, and cut a piece that will cover the container, both in height and width.

Apply designs and stripes of other colors on top of this base color

Wrap your treat in cellophane, insert into container and tie with a ribbon!

When you start to look at all the food packaging that goes into the garbage or hopefully the recycling bin, you'll realize that many of them can be re-purposed as great gift boxes and containers. Most boxes can be carefully opened and then re-glued inside out, leaving you with a blank brown box that can be decorated or even left as is. So get creative with the gift wrapping this year and have fun!

August 09, 2009

For the next few days I'm taking a little break from presenting hanging decorations to show you a few really nice decorative projects. The first one is so simple, with great results that you'll never throw out (if you live in Israel where there's no can recycling to speak of) another tin can, especially not large juice cans and tall Materna (baby formula) cans!

Not all Succahs are on even ground, so as much as we try to bring only the most elegant things into our Succah, practically speaking a regular vase might pose too many problems! This is the solution, quite simply a can covered in fabric and trimmed with interesting ribbon. And of course these are great for outdoor entertaining as well. These cans can certainly hold real flowers or an interesting arrangement of something elegant and festive, like the example here, and best of all, now you can finally use those bits of your favorite fabric without having to sew!

Using a brush, coat entire surface of can with a generous coat of glue.

Starting with the unpressed end of fabric, carefully wrap fabric around can, pulling tightly as you go around and making sure that the fabric lines up with the top and bottom edges of the can. The end with the seam should neatly cover the unfinished edge.

Smooth entire surface with fingers to check for bubbles or creases that can be fixed.

Set aside to dry, and apply ribbon trim to can where desired. (Materna cans have ridges at the top and it may be difficult to adhere fabric neatly in that spot— so just cover that area with a nice thick ribbon!)

Cans like this could be made as inexpensive centerpieces for any celebration, or used at Purim time for a small sampling of treats. And they can make your toiletries look organized, help store small sewing supplies, or even be helpful near the baby's changing table as a catch all for ointments or tiny pairs of socks!

Square cans sit together well, and a set lined up nicely on an open shelf would look great! Finally all the little stuff can not only have a place, but maybe next time you'll know exactly where those nail cutters are when you need them!